This invention relates to electronic communications and processing devices and more particularly to devices having displays, which sizes can be adjusted depending on the user's needs.
Mobile and wearable communication devices are becoming increasingly popular, due in part to the dramatic miniaturization of such devices, which has occurred over the past decade. Often times these devices utilize a combination of different functions, for instance such gadgets as a multifunctional watch, a cellular phone/organizer, and a hand-held computer/PDA.
There is an intrinsic contradiction between the miniaturization of the mobile and wearable electronic devices accompanied by the increasing flow of visual information and the practically unchanged human abilities to receive this information by the eye. An electronic display significantly affects the weight and design of mobile devices. The hand-held computer/PDAs are equipped with rather readable displays, but their sheer bulk and rigid shape become insuperable obstacles to using them in situations, when the size and way of carrying matter.
It may become the main hurdle to full realization of the immensely potent high-speed “third generation”, or 3G, cellular systems. We think there is a better way to have instant access to information while connecting people on the move. In our view, the means by which the user interacts with the device, along with the way of presenting information define the visual user interface, and thus the accessibility of information.
Implementation of the currently developing ultra-thin flexible electronic display film technology opens a way to comply with the requirements of portability and comfort of use. There are some instances where a flexible display becomes the defining core of a mobile/wearable device.
The wearable device with flexible display is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,931,764 to Freeman et al. The device comfortably conforms to a wearer's body and can undergo flexing of the type and magnitude experienced by a wristwatch or other wearable devices. The flexible body includes an integrated circuit, a flexible display element, and circuitry for controlling the display element. The curvilinear display allows to read visual information presented in a discrete form, similar to that of a wristwatch. The more display is bent, the less information can be read at a glance. This limits presentation of information to a sequence of relatively small chunks of it, without having the whole picture on the screen.
The mobile communication device, which is built around a flexible display, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,076 B1 to Peuhu et al. The display is movable between a retracted position within the cylindrical housing and an extended position, where the display is visible to the user. In the extended mode, an antenna in its unfolded position, i.e. extended perpendicularly to the device's housing, supports the flexible display. This approach to support the flexible display limits the ways of holding the device to virtually only one position, when the device is vertically oriented with a horizontally extended display. In any other position the screen's planar geometry, being supported only partially, would be seriously impaired, making displayed information rather unreadable. Secondly, it requires a few separate moves for making this system work, including extension of the display, unfolding of the antenna and snapping of the display to it.
The mobile terminal device, content distribution system, content distribution method, and program for executing method thereof, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,771,232 B2 to Fujieda et al. The main element of the terminal is a flexible display, which can be extended by means of a supporting foldable arm. The use of a mechanical apparatus requires having an initially quite firm and stable flexible display, and, most importantly, it supports the screen in one particular way, for instance not allowing for folding the screen in two directions perpendicular to each other in order to substantially increase the screen's viewable area.
Summarizing, some important problems associated with either mobile or wearable electronic devices in regards to presentation of visual information can be identified as follows:
Miniaturization of mobile and wearable electronic devices is limited by the size of an electronic display, which has to be large enough to provide readable visual information. A technologically achievable much greater volume of visual information is also limited by the display size. The great potential of 3G cellular systems could not be fully realized, due to the relatively small conventional LCD display. The apparent limitation of the display size is the device's body itself.
Implementation of the flexible display technology could solve the aforementioned problem if the screen could be adjusted depending on the specifics of usage. Firstly, the display size has to be quite small to fit in the device's body for compact storage and when the volume of information is relatively low. Secondly, the display has to be sufficiently large to enable viewing of high-quality graphics and images associated with 3G technologies. Therefore, accepting the handheld/PDA format as a generally adopted benchmark, it can be specified that the display of a mobile device has to be comparable in viewable size to that of a handheld's display. The use of an even greater display size allows transformation of a rather small mobile device into a much larger portable device, a tablet computer, for instance.
The virtue of flexibility, which allows creating of an adjustable video user interface, becomes a liability, when the flexible screen is in an extended position. In this position the flexible display is structurally unstable, thus preventing reading of the displayed information. Therefore the flexible display in its extended position needs to be supported in a way making it firm and stable. An external support in the form of a mechanical apparatus limits the options for extension of the screen to only one particular method. It would substantially decrease the value of a mobile device equipped with the flexible screen as a universally used medium.
A wearable device with the flexible display could comfortably conform to a wearer's body, and to the wrist, in particular. At the same time, the display's curvilinear geometry limits the ways of presenting information to a sequence of relatively small pieces of data lacking the versatility of having high-quality graphics and images on the screen.
Dealing with significant volumes of visual information, which becomes possible due to large enough flexible displays, often demands working while using both hands, one to hold the device and the other to operate it. Correspondingly, simultaneous handling of audio and video information necessitates employment of a separate audio piece that allows hands-free communication.